For specifiers

— BIM

IFC4 from the configurator

What an architect gets and how to use it: a BIM model, a PDF specification and a tender sheet — without contacting us.

The Vargov®Design configurator at vargov.design (Russian version: configurator.vargov.ru) builds a lighting or decorative composition for a specific room, in the browser. Once the composition is calculated, the Documents button gives you three documents without contacting us: an IFC4 model, a PDF specification and a tender sheet.

What you download

IFC4 model

The composition as you configured it — geometry and properties — in the open IFC4 format, ready for the project model. It is assembled per composition, not per article.

PDF specification

A printable summary for the design set and the client: a 3D view of the composition, a QR code that reopens this configuration, and the specification — article, form, number of elements, dimensions, mass, power, fixing points with the load per point. It opens in a new window; your browser saves it as PDF.

Tender sheet

The same composition as a dated procurement specification: item and quantity, technical data, installation with the load per point, conformity documents, HS code and manufacturer details, supply. It also opens in a new window.

DXF drawings are for internal use only: the brand's production and dealers.

How to open the model in Revit, ArchiCAD and other BIM software

BIM applications read IFC4 through their own import or link command; dialogs differ by product and version, but the sequence is the same:

01Open Documents, set the ceiling height in the “Ceiling height, mm” field above the IFC button (2700 mm by default), download the IFC file and keep it with the project.

02Bring it in with the IFC import or link command rather than opening it as a separate project, so the composition lands in your model. Lengths in the file are in millimetres.

03No vertical offset is needed: the file's origin is on the floor and the fixing points sit on the ceiling at the height you set. The position on plan is yours.

04Select an element or a fixing point: the data sits in the Vargov_Design and Vargov_Mount property sets.

05Run your usual clash check against structure, services and the ceiling grid.

If a file does not import as expected, write to info@vargov.ru with the application name and version.

What is inside the model

The class follows the element's own light, not the article: a lit element is exported as IfcLightFixture, an unlit one as IfcFurnishingElement, even when both hang in the same composition. The exception is LC0434 and LC0463, lit by diodes on the frame: the light sources themselves are not in the file, so every element of the composition is exported as IfcLightFixture.

Each element of a composition is named by article code and size, e.g. “LC0102 · D80”, so elements of different sizes are told apart in the project tree by name and by the ElementSize property; on a ribbon the frame and the diodes are named by a word: “LC0217 · frame”, “LC0217 · LED”. The project in the file is named by product type and article code, as on this site — e.g. “Sconce LC0406-1”; such a ready-made piece has a single element in the file, named the same as the project.

Ceiling fixing points are separate IfcDiscreteAccessory objects, one per point. Each has its own Vargov_Mount set: SuspensionType — on a wire or on a cable, ElementsAtPoint — how many elements reach the point, LoadKg — the load on the point in kilograms. How points are counted.

As a rule, the suspension follows the light: a lit element hangs on a wire, a decorative one on a cable; the file records the suspension type of every point. The specification counts wires and cables separately, in its Ceiling fixing points line.

The composition totals — article code, overall size, number of elements, mass, power (for lit compositions) and a link to the configuration — sit in the Vargov_Design set on the building object (IfcBuilding); a ready-made piece carries its own overall size (“260 × 110 × 600 mm” for the LC0406-1 sconce). Each element has its own set with the same name, holding the composition's article code and the element's name and size (a ready-made piece — only the article code and name).

The ceiling height the model is built for is stored as CeilingHeight in the same Vargov_Design set on the building object, next to the composition totals, and travels with the configuration link: a colleague opening the link exports the file for the same ceiling.

Property names are in English, their descriptions in Russian. The configurator's interface language sets the project name, the fixing points' names and suspension type, and the words inside element names: Russian with the Russian interface, English with any other (“Wire suspension”, “frame”, “LED”, “mm”). The site, building and storey are named Site, Building and Level in every language.

What it is for

Ceiling coordination

Fixing points as objects let you check the composition against beams, ducts, sprinklers and the ceiling grid before the ceiling is closed, and move it while moving is still cheap.

Structural nodes

Each fixing point carries its own load, and the specification states the number of points with the load per point — the average, plus the highest where points are loaded unevenly. The structural engineer receives numbers rather than a request to “check the ceiling”.

Tender and procurement

The tender sheet and the model describe the same composition: the sheet goes into the tender documents, the model into the quantity take-off.

Limits

01The model and its numbers are a concept-level calculation. The footer of every PDF specification and tender sheet says so: “Calculations are conceptual; the final specification is confirmed by the brand engineer.” Treat the export as coordination data, not as a signed shop drawing.

02360 of the 605 compositions in the catalogue open with a full calculation and therefore with IFC4 export. The rest are calculated by the brand engineer together with you.

03For compositions on a frame and for ready-made scenes the file carries no fixing points, and ready-made scenes — wall pieces — have no ceiling-height field either; ask for their suspension nodes at info@vargov.ru.

04There is no Revit family (.rfa). The format is proprietary and we do not issue one; Revit opens the IFC4 model through IFC import or link.

Questions and answers

Do I need an account to export the files?

No. There is no account: the composition is built and exported in the browser, where saved projects are also kept. Keep the configuration link to reopen it elsewhere.

Is the IFC file per article or per composition?

Per composition. It describes the set of elements you configured for your room, with its own fixing points and loads. Two different configurations of the same article give two different files.

Do I need to move the model after import?

Not vertically. The file is built for the ceiling height set in the “Ceiling height, mm” field next to the IFC button (2700 mm by default): the fixing points sit on the ceiling, the origin is on the floor. The position on plan is yours.

Which BIM applications open it?

Any application with IFC4 import — Revit, ArchiCAD, Allplan, Tekla and Navisworks among them — through its IFC import or link command.

Do you provide a Revit family (.rfa)?

No. We do not issue .rfa files. The IFC4 model opens in Revit through IFC import or link.

Can I use the exported loads for the structural calculation?

For coordination and preliminary sizing of the nodes, yes. The calculation is conceptual: the final specification is confirmed by the brand engineer before production.

Why are decorative elements not IfcLightFixture?

Because they do not emit light. Exporting them as IfcFurnishingElement keeps the lighting schedule honest: only lit elements appear in it.

Can I download the DXF drawing?

No. DXF drawings are for internal use only: the brand's production and dealers. Visitors export the IFC4 model, the PDF specification and the tender sheet.

The founder's article: “Why a lighting studio exports IFC4 before you place an order” — Medium · LinkedIn

Configurator

Start from any composition

For example LC0173: it opens in the configurator with a full calculation. Project questions: info@vargov.ru.

Open LC0173 Catalogue